Have you checked out the Parking MattersŪ Blog, just launched last week? Interesting, thought-provoking, easy-to-digest, and sometimes downright entertaining, the blog is a robust new platform for parking and transportation professionals. Contributing bloggers are posted on the site, but that list will grow in the days and weeks ahead as new voices are added. IPI also plans to add guest bloggers from related fields who will add insightful new dimensions to the dialog.

We invite you to view the blog at http://blog.parking.org and be sure to sign up to receive notifications in your email when new posts appear. We hope reading - and commenting on - the Parking MattersŪ Blog becomes a productive part of your weekly routine, and one you enjoy.

The World's Largest Parking Event

The IPI Conference & Expo is the parking industry's largest trade show, with 200 exhibiting companies covering more than 100,000 square feet of expo hall floor, delivering sustainable, integrated, and cutting-edge technology solutions to benefit you and your operation. There is no other place where you will be able to learn and participate in the world's largest display of the industry's latest innovations than at the 2012 IPI Conference & Expo, June 10-13 in Phoenix. For an up-to-the-minute listing of exhibiting companies and to use the Business Connection Portal -- IPI's online tool for vendor-attendee networking -- visit the virtual expo.

For more on the IPI Conference & Expo and to register and take advantage of all the technology, education, and networking that makes this show the industry's largest and best, and your one must-attend event, visit www.parking.org/conference.

IPI's Next Online ShopTalk

Join us for the our March Online ShopTalk: Ideas on Handling Parking Safety and Security on Thursday, March 29 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. This virtual roundtable will provide an opportunity for IPI members to discuss how peers are working to address common safety and security issues in their lots and garages. Safety and security are important issues that face all parking operations and affect everything from the bottom line to customer services. The format will be an open discussion and all registrants will be asked to participate by sharing their problems and solutions.

Thanks to the initiative of IPI member and Texas Parking Association board member Scott Kangas, CAPP, and the Texas Parking Association, Texas Governor Rick Perry has again proclaimed March 26-30 "Parking Professional Appreciation Week." IPI applauds efforts such as these that work to support IPI's industry-wide Parking MattersŪcampaign to advance the parking profession.

Most states issue proclamations for associations, enabling them to have a day or week named in their honor. Has your parking association been honored by your state or locality? If not, wouldn't you like to highlight the important role parking facilities and parking professionals play in daily life? Imagine a proclamation, complete with your city or state seal and signed by the mayor or governor, that says to others, parking really matters!

A woman went to an urban hospital to visit an ill friend. While walking to her car in the nearby parking garage, she was stabbed and robbed by an unknown assailant. A year later, the garage manager finds himself sitting in a deposition that is being taken by the woman's attorney. The attorney has many questions, but, in particular, wants to know how that manager determined how much and what type of security measures to provide in that garage at the time his client was attacked. If you were that manager, would you be able to answer the following questions? How did you arrive at the decision to have only the local police randomly patrol that garage and not retain the services of a security company dedicated to the facility? On what basis as the decision made to place closed-circuit television cameras only at the vehicle entrances and not inside the garage as well? Was any kind of security risk analysis conducted, and is that analysis acceptable in the parking industry?

IPI Members can read this article and the rest of the March issue by accessing the online version of The Parking Professional.

To advertise in the award-winning The Parking Professional, contact Bonnie Wattsat 540.371.7535.

Getting Social Media to Work for your Parking Facility

IPI's Next Webinar: Social Media: "I've Signed up for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Now what?" -Social Networking Demystified

Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 2:00 P.M. EDT

So you've set up your social media accounts like you were told to do. Now they are just sitting there with very few fans, connections, or followers. What can you do to make these tools actually work for your parking facility? How have others in the industry used social media to promote their professional efforts? Participate in this webinar and find out!

Instructor: Ted Janusz, president, Janusz Presentations

$35.00 for IPI Members; $50.00 for Non-Members

*All registrants will be able to download Ted's book, Social Media Marketing Guide for the Parking Professional as part of their registration.

The IPI Airport Peer Services Progam provides airport IPI members a structured opportunity to share knowledge, experiences, ideas, and recommendations with each other at limited expense. IPI is facilitating the program by seeking volunteers to participate as "airport peers" and sharing the list of volunteers with participating airport IPI members.

Airport members can volunteer, request an airport peer list and learn more here.

New RFPs Posted on IPI's RFP Portal

These are the latest parking RFPs available at the IPI RFP Portal. Access to complete RFP details is a benefit of IPI membership.

Do you have an RFP you would like to have promoted? IPI provides this forum for parking organizations to post their RFPs at no charge. For more information, contact Henry Wallmeyer at 540.371.7535.

Industry Headlines From IPI's Social Media

Did you know that IPI provides an easy way to follow the latest news and trends in the parking and transportation industry? Just join us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. IPI staff regularly post information that is important to parking professionals. Here are just a few examples of the stories you may have missed:

Time is running out. Please remember to register today for the TPTA 2012 Annual Conference and Tradeshow, which will be held March 28-30, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in dynamic downtown Houston. If you are looking for educational sessions and ways to enhance your knowledge or expand your resources and networking value, please make sure you register today. Read more...